Women's Swimming & Diving

CMS Sweeps the Poets

Jan 16, 2011

AccuWeather called it "Sunny and Pleasantly Warm." The CMS Stags and Athenas called it a "Great Day to Swim and Dive." All around, it was an excellent time to be in Claremont, as CMS swept the Whittier Poets at the CMS Axelrood Pool on Saturday, January 15, 2011. The Athenas won 220-68, while the Stags took first by a score of 241-56. Both CMS squads are 4-0 in SCIAC competition.

Freshman Michele Kee won four events for CMS. Kee set SCIAC leading times in the 100 freestyle (53.32) and led off the winning 200 free relay in a SCIAC leading 50 yard freestyle time of 24.65. She also won the 200 free and was a member of the winning 200 yard medley relay team.

Senior Jenni Rinker also took first in four events, competing in both relays and winning the 50 freestyle and 200 backstroke individually. Helen Liu swam legs in each relay, including an impressive 24.04 anchor leg of the 200 free relay. Liu also won the 100 yard backstroke.

Three Athenas were double winners. Carmen Lundell scored first on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. Sophomore Olivia Graham impressed the crowd with a personal record in the 200 yard breaststroke and another win in the 200 IM. Junior Emma Jones joined Kee, Rinker and Liu on both first-place relays. Individual winner, Annika Jessen, led the way in the 200 yard butterfly.

"We had an excellent week of practices leading up to the meet," said Coach Charlie Griffiths. "During the second week of our Training Camp, we shook up the workouts a bit and embraced the 'good tired.' We also enjoyed some valuable time together outside of the pool. The result was an energetic meet."

The Stags won all 16 events contested on the day and 13 different Stags earned first place awards. Junior Vincent Pai slipped under the NCAA D-III "B" qualifying standard in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:06.66, thrilling his teammates. Pai also used an explosive start to win the 50 free. Senior Ian McGinnity had a breakthrough day, posting in-season personal records en route to winning the 200 free and 100 free events. Sophomore Andrew Fevery led the field in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.

Other individual winners for CMS were Chris Ramos in the 1000 freestyle, Nick Ostreim in the 100 backstroke, Bo Lee in the 100 breaststroke, Brian Nadler in the 100 butterfly, Blake Weber in the 200 backstroke, Jordan Lieberman in the 500 free, Brendan Huss in the 100 butterfly and Austin Hallett in the 200 IM. The 200 medley relay was won by the team of Weber, Pai, Lieberman and Devin Bowers. The winning 200 free relay included McGinnity, Weber, Sean Fitzgerald and Bowers.

CMS will host its final home meet of the season on Saturday, January 22 vs. California Lutheran University. Diving starts at 10:00 a.m. with swimming at 11:00 a.m.